A consultation has been launched on Panel Composition in the Employment Tribunals and the Employment Appeal Tribunal.
The premise behind the consultation is that including non-legal members on the panel is not always desirable. As paragraph 13 states:
“Including non-legal members on the panel may often affect the length of time involved in the hearing of a case and delivering a decision or judgment. Time must be allowed for the members to ask questions, and to contribute to the preparation of the decision or judgment. Listing hearings convenient for three members of a panel is often more difficult than it is for a judge alone. The cost to the justice system of deploying members is significant. For these reasons, as well as for the general imperative of using the resources of the tribunals efficiently and prudently, it is important that non-legal members are used only where they are needed.”
Without expressing concrete proposals for reform, the consultation paper asks for feedback on eight questions about the composition of ET and EAT panels, broadly aimed at assessing whether it is desirable to decrease (or, indeed, increase) the number of cases on which panel members sit in addition to a judge.
The consultation closes on 27 March 2023.
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